The present invention relates to an apparatus for heat exchange between liquids, gas and liquid, and gases, and more particularly, between liquids.
As the conventional heat exchanging apparatus has often been used as such between the heating medium, which is either a high temperature liquid or gas, and the liquid as shown in FIG. 3, this is used as an example for description. In this apparatus, a heat absorbing member 30 comprising of a heat absorbing tube 31 connecting a bottom portion of an inlet header 1 with that of an outlet header 2, with the heat absorbing tube 31 below the outlet header 2 being of a spiral form, is installed while locating the heat absorbing tube 31 inside the heating container 9. The heating container 9 is provided with a heating medium inlet 11 and outlet 12, respectively for supply and discharge of the heating medium.
In heating the liquid by the above type of heat exchanging apparatus while the liquid is supplied from the inlet header 1 into the heat absorbing tube 31, the heating medium is supplied through the heating medium inlet 11 into the heating container 9. The hot water obtained through heat exchange between the heating medium and the liquid in the heat absorbing tube 31 is supplied through the outlet header 2 to the load unit (not shown). On the other hand, the heating medium is discharged through the heating medium outlet 12. If this heat exchanging apparatus is used to supply hot water to a plurality of load units, such as three load units including heater 13, a hot water supply unit 14, and a bathtub 15, as shown in FIG. 4, three heat absorbing members 30A, 30B, and 30C must be installed in the heating container 9 in correspondence to these loads. To supply the hot water to the load, the inlet header 1A and outlet header 2A of the heat absorbing member 30A are connected to the heater 13 through a pipeline 17, in which a pump 18 is incorporated, while the water supply source 19 connected to the inlet header 1A of the heat absorbing member 30, the outlet header 2B is connected to the hot water supply unit 14 and the inlet header 1C and outlet header 2C of the heat absorbing member 30C connected to the bathtub 15 through the pipeline 21, in which the pump 20 is incorporated.
The heat exchanging apparatus of the above type has only one heat absorbing tube 31 on one heat absorbing member 30, resulting in poor heat exchange efficiency between the liquid in the heat absorbing tube 31 and the heating medium in the heating container 9. Moreover, to supply hot water to a plurality of load units, such as heaters, there must be a plurality of heat absorbing members 30 in the heating container 9. Therefore, problems arise, like the need for a large amount of heating medium as well as an increased size of the heating container 9.